Amazon pours Rs 1680 cr more in India, takes total investment to over $2 bn

With the infusion of another Rs 1,680 crore in Amazon Seller Services, Seattle-based e-commerce major Amazon has taken the total capital investment to over Rs 13,800 crore ($2.1billion) in India, as first reported by the ET.

The recent investment makes it the second largest global investor in India’s digital economy. The fresh infusion is part of Amazon’s overall commitment of $5 billion to India.

With the investment of around $4 billion, Japanese internet major SoftBank is the top investor in the country’s digital economy. Tiger Global stands at the third position, which has parked less than $2 billion here.

Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos recently reiterated the commitment to India after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in US last month, tweeting “Always impressed, energised by optimism and invention in India. Excited to keep investing and growing.”

“We are delighted and humbled by the trust from our customers, to lead in India things that matter to our customers in just four years of our business, while continuing to launch innovative India-first initiatives as well as completely new offerings like Prime and Prime video,” said Amazon India spokesperson talking to ET.

Part of the infusion could also be towards strengthening the network ahead of the festive season, the biggest sale event online, in September this year. The industry experts say that they are gearing up for Diwali and the usual investment in logistics and warehousing will continue. This year, the competition is only from Flipkart.

The company recently announced its Prime Day sale for later this month and has been aggressive in taking on the Flipkart-Myntra-Jabong combine by matching up on sale events.

The experts believe that these infusions will continue in a six to nine month interval for Amazon India to take on competition for the next two to three years.

The Flipkart group recently raised $1.4 billion led by Chinese internet conglomerate Tencent along with US technology corporations eBay and Micros.